Melancholic Redemption and the Hopelessness of Hope

Abstract Since late antiquity, a connection was made between Jews and the psychological state of despondency based, in part, on link melancholy Saturn, further association Hebrew name that planet, Shabbetai, Sabbath. The melancholic predisposition has had important anthropological, cosmological, theological repercussions. In this essay, I focus various perspectives melancholia thinkers as diverse Kafka, Levinas, Blanchot, Rosenzweig, Benjamin, Bloch, Scholem, Derrida. A common thread links these is hopelessness hope imparted by messianic belief future must be perpetually deferred.